Behind Oak Hill's Fences, Violence and Uncertainty

Girls also are sent to Oak Hill, but they live separately in Unit 6, a razor-wire enclosed building outside the main campus. In a report in March that detailed failings at the facility, the city's interim inspector general, Austin A. Andersen, found that Oak Hill did not adequately keep girls awaiting trial separate from those who are committed to the detention center. Violence had erupted in the past between the different populations.

Before any unit moves from one part of the campus to another, officers coordinate with a control office using walkie-talkies. Three times a day at shift change, all activity on campus stops so that officers can take an official count.

On this day, the guards led their separate groups of young men, about 20 youths total, down the campus walkways. The face of every teenager was black, which is generally the case, according to statistics provided by Oak Hill.

The teenagers come from crime-ravaged and poverty-stricken neighborhoods, including Anacostia, Congress Heights and Benning Road, east of the Anacostia River. They are repeat offenders and the city's most violent young residents, who've exceeded group homes or probation. Many had not been born when the 18-year battle over Oak Hill began.

This year the facility has been cited by a court monitor and the investigative arm of city government for several deficiencies, such as illegal drug activity on campus.

The interim inspector general reported in March that some teenagers who entered Oak Hill drug free subsequently tested positive for illegal substances. The report said that drugs were being smuggled into the detention center and that staff members were the source.

"It's a matter of identifying who these people are and taking appropriate actions against them," said Marceline D. Alexander, interim administrator of the Youth Services Administration, the division of the Department of Human Services that runs Oak Hill. Random strip searches are routine, and searches with drug-sniffing dogs are planned.

Gregory Powers, president of the Department of Human Services's Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents correction officers at Oak Hill, said he would report any officer who did something illegal.

"The vast majority of the people here are hardworking and want to make a difference in people's lives," he said.

Powers has worked at Oak Hill for 19 years and coached the Oak Hill Academy football team to three junior varsity city high school championships. He acknowledged that there are problems but said that many juveniles are well served.

"For every child who has something bad to say about Oak Hill, I know 10 who would tell you good things," Powers said.

The city is legally required by the consent decree to help juveniles turn around their lives. Alexander, the interim administrator, said Oak Hill offers sessions on anger management and on building self-esteem and values. Community and church volunteers also visit juveniles and work with them.

But court monitors, who have written 51 reports in the past 18 years, have criticized Oak Hill for failing to prepare juveniles for life on the outside. A court monitor's report examining Oak Hill's performance during the first half of 2004 will be released this month. With the arbiter taking over the case, that report will be the last from the court monitor.

City Administrator Robert C. Bobb has identified fixing Oak Hill as a top priority for the Williams administration. "We're bound and determined to implement a series of reforms," Bobb said.